Mendelian randomization
STATISTICAL METHOD IN GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY
Mendelian randomisation; Mendelian randomization analysis; Mendelian Randomization
In epidemiology, Mendelian randomization (commonly abbreviated to MR) is a method using measured variation in genes to interrogate the causal effect of an exposure on an outcome. Under key assumptions (see below), the design reduces both reverse causation and confounding, which often substantially impede or mislead the interpretation of results from epidemiological studies.